The Akwa Ibom State High Court, located in Essien Udim Local Government Area (LGA), has sentenced two brothers to death for the murder of a 45-year-old farmer named Iboro Joe. The brothers were convicted of killing Joe over a dispute over a parcel of land.
The convicts are Uduak Udo Umoren (48), a pastor and motorcyclist, and his 34-year-old brother, Emmanuel Udo Umoren, a farmer and panel beater, who hail from Adiasim Ikot Ekon Village in Essien Udim LGA.
Their conviction stems from the murder of a farmer and trader from Ikot Otu village in the same Essien Udim LGA. The victim had gone to offer comfort to his sister-in-law in Adiasim Ikot Ekon following her husband’s passing.
The sister-in-law had requested the deceased’s company to her late husband’s farmland to determine its value for the burial.
Reportedly, while they were on the land, the wife of the second convict spotted them and promptly alerted her husband, informing him of someone attempting to conduct a ritual on their family property.
Upon reaching the farmland, the second convict physically assaulted the deceased. Simultaneously, his wife summoned her son and her brother-in-law, who joined in the attack, inflicting wounds using machetes and broken bottles.
Upon returning to the family compound, the two convicts persisted in their assault on the deceased. It wasn’t until the young people of Adiasim Ikot Ekon Village, led by the Youth President, intervened and rushed the victim to General Hospital in Ikot Ekpene. Unfortunately, he was denied treatment there.
Additional information reveals that the victim was brought back to his hometown, where he passed away three days later.
In the recent ruling, Justice Winifred Effiong, the presiding judge, declared the two defendants culpable of murder and subsequently sentenced them to death by hanging.
Justice Effiong emphasized that the State Ministry of Justice’s prosecution team had successfully demonstrated, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the accused deliberately took the life of the deceased.